Peak experiences during insight mindfulness meditation retreats and their salutary and adverse impact: A prospective matched-controlled intervention study.
Journal of consulting and clinical psychology – April 01, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
Intensive mindfulness meditation retreats lead to primarily pleasant peak experiences, significantly more so than in matched controls. Among 96 retreat participants, 17 distinct positive experiences, like deep peace and "aha!" moments, were reported more frequently compared to 47 controls. At a two-week follow-up, the perceived impact of these experiences was overwhelmingly beneficial, with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 1.61). Contrary to some past claims, unpleasant experiences during meditation were rare and generally had a positive rather than negative impact.
Abstract
We sought to address a growing debate regarding the adverse and salutary impact of unusual, extraordinary or intense subjective experiences during meditation-based interventions. To do so, we empirically characterized such peak experiences during an intensive meditation intervention and their impact postintervention. We conducted a preregistered prospective intervention study among 96 adults who registered for 6-day insight (Vipassana) mindfulness meditation retreats and 47 matched controls. Controls were selected from a pool of 543 people recruited from the same community of meditators as retreat participants and systematically matched to retreat participants on age and lifetime meditation experience. Measures included the novel Peak Meditative Experience Scale and the Impact of PMES. Seventeen peak experiences that were primarily pleasant (e.g., deep and unusual peace, aha! Moment) occurred more frequently among retreat participants than among matched controls in daily living (ps .05). At 2-week follow-up, the perceived impact of all pleasant and most unpleasant peak experiences was more salutary than adverse (ps ≤ .015; M Cohen's d = 1.61). Peak experiences that resulted from meditation retreats were primarily pleasant and had a large salutary impact postretreat. Inconsistent with conclusions from uncontrolled retrospective studies, findings document that intensive insight mindfulness meditation training in retreats may not contribute to unpleasant peak experiences and even when they occurred their impact was typically more salutary than adverse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).